Have you recuperated yet? Hit the snooze button enough times to get some much needed 5-more-minutes of shuteye? Hopefully by now you've guzzled enough gallons of coffee or swigged enough Red Bull, Jolt or Mountain Dew to peel your eyeballs open and consider yourself a part of the living. Treefort is not for the faint of heart, my peeps.
We fanned out to all corners and tried to take in as much of the '12 as possible — and didn't even come close. But now that the BW crew has shaken off the last of the festival's magic dust, we thought we'd share some of our highlights. Grab a Red Bull and join us as we look back at the party of the year. Cheers.
Jeanne's take:
My Treefort started late Wednesday afternoon, Day 1. It was a gorgeous spring day, full of sunshine and blue, blue skies. Before I headed over to Foodfort's "A Night with Amano" at the Basque Center, I detoured around to Julia Davis Park. One of my favorite and iconic Treefort sights is the gargantuan tangle of bicycles — there were seemingly thousands parked along Capitol Boulevard. People in shirtsleeves and shorts were lined up to get their wristbands and tickets while others began milling into the festival through what appeared to be a castle-gated entrance. I took a quick stroll to the Main Stage and caught a bit of the twerk-errific Flyana Boss (rhymes with Diana Ross). But — my stomach's rumbling sent me onward to the five-course dinner down the street and around the corner.
There was a long line snaking around the side entrance and out into the street at the Basque Center so I popped into the bar and snagged a pre-dinner cocktail. By the time I got through the door, the place was packed. Rows of white-tableclothed tables were lined with hungry diners sitting at each place setting. A murmuring and soft laughter blended with a tinkling of glasses as the first course appeared: Chips, Salsa Y Guacamole featuring housemade, hand-sized olotillo tortilla chips and four salsas: peanut salsa macha, salsa de molcajete, pineapple habanero and chef's choice. The drink was a Mezcal cocktail by Dos Hombres.
My tablemates were not strangers for long. The fine food and drink and celebratory atmosphere brought us to party town within minutes. (By the end of the meal, we had all shared phone numbers and pledged to be in touch.)
With each course came a drink pairing. For the second course "Sopa de Garbanzo," shots of Gusto Historico Cuix con Espadin de Milpa from Oaxaca. "That's the same mezcal we had in Mexico," said my new friend across the table to his wife. With the Third Course, "Al Pastor Aguachile" — a fish taco with ahi tuna, pineapple, chile morita and cilantro — came a glass of Riesling from Germany. And with the fourth and main course, "Short Rib Mole," another shot of tequila, this one rather tart that complemented the saucy meat dish perfectly: Rey Campero Pechuga do Codorniz. Finally, our dessert/fifth course of a corn pudding with dulce de leche, burnt husk whip and a sprinkling of pecan-pinole — "Pudin de Maiz" — was presented with a final shot of mezcal: Chacolo Cimarron Capon 3 Años.
The twice-nominated James Beard Chef Salvador Alamilla and crew did not disappoint. Burp.
After work on Thursday, I headed straight to Street Eats at Zoo Boise where 14 stations were set up with a variety of "small plate" dishes waiting to be devoured by me and about 350 others. The Boise Co-op was a sponsor of the event and donated all of the meat and dairy for the on-site chefs. In addition, the co-op held a raffle: eat all 14 dishes and get your map stamped for a chance to win a $250 Boise Co-op gift card. Congratulations to winner Julie DuBois — according to Karlee Stagg, events and membership coordinator at the co-op, 125 cleaned all their plates.
Every bite was delicious, but a few seemed to cause a stir equating to extremely long lines, including Basquenese, a food truck that features a mashup of Basque and Japanese cuisines and a ramen dish by I Am Noodle Monster. Some of my other faves were: tiny pastry-wrapped chorizos by Ansots, White Rabbit's Meatball and Spaghetti O's, St. Lawrence Gridiron's Blue Brisket Sandwich and The Lively's mini-cheesecakes. Double burp.
After my gastronomic feasting, I spent the rest of the festival just bopping around, taking in the sights and sounds. Here are some that stand out to me. On Friday, I saw Guava Tree at The Shrine and the lead singer was barefoot(!). I took Saturday off because whew, but back strong on Sunday. At Poetry and Mimosas at Ochos, Lyd Havens's stunning poetry made me cry. Amanda Giacomini's live painting of her 10,000 buddhas in the 8th Street Marketplace was equally moving — she's actually up to over 20,000 now. I toodled over to the park in the afternoon and ran into Frankie Lamour from Austin who wins my "best Treefort fit" dressed head to toe in glittering bedazzled sequins. Madeline Hawthorne at the Bandshell took us on a dreamy rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" and had the crowd in a joyous singalong. And the Dragfort Brunch was simply lit.
But I think my favorite moment and one I will cherish until next year for sure was seeing and hearing DakhaBrakha from Ukraine. Their music was unique and amazing — hypnotic. And the graphics that played behind them which included Ukrainian art and images from the war got me in the feels bad.
Touché, Treefort. Until we meet again. — Jeanne Huff
Hanalei's take:
I’ve been in Boise for a few years now, which of course means I’ve heard all the hype around what is The Treefort Music Fest. Despite the festival always landing on Boise State’s spring break, my need to travel that week has always kept me from attending. But this year I decided enough was enough, there’s no need to travel anywhere but to downtown Boise this year, for Treefort 12.
As a first time Treeforter I’ll admit I was a bit nervous, as I didn’t really know exactly what to expect. All in all, what truly saved me was the Treefort app. Just because you may know your way around Boise doesn’t mean you know your way around Treefort, so being able to add events across all forts to my very own personal schedule and share it with friends was a life-saver.
The app was super helpful, but that isn’t to say the festival wasn’t very overwhelming to me as a first timer. Due to my lack of planning, and not knowing what to expect, I do feel like I didn't get to make it to all the events I had wanted — but overall I had the best time.
On day one I had to get a lay of the land, and decided to start at Julia Davis Park and the main stage. Alefort was of course front and center, so I started the night with a beverage — I will be keeping my Treefort 2024 cup as a token of course.
Next it was time to hit some concerts, but where to begin? I was conflicted, deciding if I wanted to go see artists in my go-to genre of indie and folk, or if I wanted to seek out artists in a genre I have yet to experience in a live show. Of course when it comes to Treefort, the amount of concerts to pick from are endless.
On day one, I decided to go with the latter and hit some EDM shows, including Armand Hammer, at Treefort Music Hall. Despite not knowing the songs specifically, the concert was a blast and I loved the venue — equipped with a full bar and space to dance.
On day two, I was on a mission to check out some of the smaller stages set up around local businesses downtown. It turns out the band of a close friend of mine was playing at Boise Brewing Company, so of course I had to be there.
Although coined one of the smaller stages, the stage had a large set up outside of the brewery, and people gathered around outside with their drinks to watch the magic. I saw College Level, a small local indie rock band, and they surely gave a main stage experience to this smaller venue. So much so that a friend joked they should change their name to “Grad School Level” — and I agree, they killed it.
The next day I decided to experience some of the Storyfort events at Ochos Cocktail and Wine Bar. The aesthetic of Ochos is unmatched, and is definitely the perfect place to hold Storyfort events. The atmosphere makes you want to curl up in a corner and write in an old notebook with a glass of red wine.
At the author talks and readings, the featured writers read excerpts from their books and discussed their writing processes and their relationship with writing. They were also kind enough to answer questions from the eager audience. The author talks I attended at Ochos were enthralling, and had everyone in the audience captivated, hanging on every last word. Events featured well-known authors like Megan Nolan, Hallie Hill, Shy Watson and many more.
Later that night I made my way back to the main stage to see K.Flay perform “High Enough” so I could pretend it was 2016 again — it was a magical, nostalgic experience. And the following main stage act, Channel Tres, had everyone in the audience dancing along, mimicking their dance sequences.
Of course I made sure that every day of Treefort I stopped by the center of Julia Davis Park to check out the status of the live mural paintings. It was cool to witness the art pieces change day in and day out, and the final product was of course well worth stopping by on the very last day — despite how exhausted everyone was sure to have been. — Hanalei Potempa
